Found 2 items, similar to Flying colors.
English → English (WordNet)
Definition: flying colors
flying colors
n : complete success;
“they passed inspection with flying
colors” [syn:
flying colours]
English → English (gcide)
Definition: Flying colors
Flying
\Fly"ing\, a. [From
Fly, v. i.]
Moving in the air with, or as with, wings; moving lightly or
rapidly; intended for rapid movement.
[1913 Webster]
Flying army (Mil.) a body of cavalry and infantry, kept in
motion, to cover its own garrisons and to keep the enemy
in continual alarm. --Farrow.
Flying artillery (Mil.), artillery trained to rapid
evolutions, -- the men being either mounted or trained to
spring upon the guns and caissons when they change
position.
Flying bridge,
Flying camp. See under
Bridge, and
Camp.
Flying buttress (Arch.), a contrivance for taking up the
thrust of a roof or vault which can not be supported by
ordinary buttresses. It consists of a straight bar of
masonry, usually sloping, carried on an arch, and a solid
pier or buttress sufficient to receive the thrust. The
word is generally applied only to the straight bar with
supporting arch.
Flying colors, flags unfurled and waving in the air; hence:
To come off with flying colors, to be victorious; to
succeed thoroughly in an undertaking.
Flying doe (Zo["o]l.), a young female kangaroo.
Flying dragon.
(a) (Zo["o]l.) See
Dragon, 6.
(b) A meteor. See under
Dragon.
Flying Dutchman.
(a) A fabled Dutch mariner condemned for his crimes to sail
the seas till the day of judgment.
(b) A spectral ship.
Flying fish. (Zo["o]l.) See
Flying fish, in the
Vocabulary.
Flying fox (Zo["o]l.), see
Flying fox in the vocabulary.
Flying frog (Zo["o]l.), either of two East Indian tree
frogs of the genus
Rhacophorus (
Rhacophorus nigrapalmatus
and
Rhacophorus pardalis), having very
large and broadly webbed feet, which serve as parachutes,
and enable it to make very long leaps.
Flying gurnard (Zo["o]l.), a species of gurnard of the
genus
Cephalacanthus or
Dactylopterus, with very large
pectoral fins, said to be able to fly like the flying
fish, but not for so great a distance.
Note: Three species are known; that of the Atlantic is
Cephalacanthus volitans.
Flying jib (Naut.), a sail extended outside of the standing
jib, on the flying-jib boom.
Flying-jib boom (Naut.), an extension of the jib boom.
Flying kites (Naut.), light sails carried only in fine
weather.
Flying lemur. (Zo["o]l.) See
Colugo.
Flying level (Civil Engin.), a reconnoissance level over
the course of a projected road, canal, etc.
Flying lizard. (Zo["o]l.) See
Dragon, n. 6.
Flying machine, any apparatus for navigating through the
air, especially a heavier-than-air machine. --
Flying mouse
(Zo["o]l.), the opossum mouse (
Acrobates pygm[ae]us
), a marsupial of Australia. Called also
feathertail glider.
Note: It has lateral folds of skin, like the flying
squirrels, and a featherlike tail. --
Flying party
(Mil.), a body of soldiers detailed to hover about an
enemy. --
Flying phalanger (Zo["o]l.), one of several
species of small marsuupials of the genera
Petaurus and
Belideus, of Australia and New Guinea, having lateral
folds like those of the flying squirrels. The sugar
squirrel (
Belideus sciureus), and the ariel (
Belideus ariel
), are the best known; -- called also
squirrel petaurus
and
flying squirrel. See
Sugar squirrel. --
Flying pinion, the fly of a clock. --
Flying sap (Mil.),
the rapid construction of trenches (when the enemy's fire
of case shot precludes the method of simple trenching), by
means of gabions placed in juxtaposition and filled with
earth. --
Flying shot, a shot fired at a moving object,
as a bird on the wing. --
Flying spider. (Zo["o]l.) See
Ballooning spider. --
Flying squid (Zo["o]l.), an
oceanic squid (
Ommastrephes Bartramii syn.
Sthenoteuthis Bartramii), abundant in the Gulf Stream,
which is able to leap out of the water with such force
that it often falls on the deck of a vessel. --
Flying squirrel
(Zo["o]l.) See
Flying squirrel, in the
Vocabulary. --
Flying start, a start in a sailing race
in which the signal is given while the vessels are under
way. --
Flying torch (Mil.), a torch attached to a long
staff and used for signaling at night.
[1913 Webster]